Mistreatment of the Savior
by Dosudro
Summary: An account of how the savior of the known worlds was treated. Diary entry in style and writer's POV. One-Shot Rukia's story but Ichigo-centric OOC and non-cannon!


**I wish I owned Bleach, but will have to settle for merely the premise of this story. Please enjoy!**

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Mistreatment of the Savior

I watched him leave. With great sorrow and a heavy heart, I watched one of my dearest friends walk away from everything. To tell the truth, it was better for him to do so. Better than if he'd stayed. Stayed to watch those he cared for and sacrificed himself for, tremble in fear at his presence.

I guess I should go back a bit and explain how it got to that point. It started when the princess he died to save, flinched when she met his eyes. I saw the pain in his eyes every time he saw it happen. Oh, she acted like nothing was wrong, maybe she even convinced herself that she was fine, but she couldn't hide the spike of fear from us.

He couldn't sense her fear, but could easily see it in her eyes. He always did say that he could understand people best when they fought. It's likely that he just had the ability to read fear or rage. Some odd quirk of his self-preservation instinct kicking in.

He was powerless to help his friends and family. The very people he gave up everything to protect. So every time they rushed off to fight, his pain bore down upon him. He was powerless, and she still feared him. Of all the people who should have supported him, she broke and in turn broke him. That was the beginning.

Then came the awful events that Tsukishima put him through. How he wormed his way into his friends and family, turning them into unwitting pawns. He broke a bit more as his past was overwritten and he was replaced.

Ginjo nearly broke him completely when he stole his fullbring. It took all I had not to cry myself at the look on his face as I held the blade lodged within his chest. Realizing that fact I may have over-reacted a bit and took it out on him. At least he was able to stand tall again. Everything was going back to normal. How wrong I was.

When Ginjo revealed the true purpose of the substitute badge, it all went downhill again. At first, he refused to believe that the one's he'd given everything up for wouldn't trust him so much that they felt they had to keep tabs on him. Even going so far as to be able to restrict his powers with the badge itself. When Ukitake-taicho admitted the accusation, he broke again.

I'll never forget the look of betrayal in his eyes. Having a front-row seat to the mental meltdown of a dear friend will do that to you. I watched as the man I had come to respect and admire for his selfless ways cut Ginjo down and before anyone could make a move to stop him, delivered the deathblow without hesitation. We all stood in shock when he similarly dispatched Tsukishima for attempting to avenge Ginjo.

I could only look on in horror as he turned his cold gaze to us, holding the substitute badge in one hand and Zangetsu in the other. With only a quick flex of his fingers, the badge shattered into an explosion of fragments as the restriction kido exploded outward. Several taichos grabbed their swords at the feeling of malice radiating off him. Then everything froze. He simply wasn't there anymore. In his place was the after-image of a closing garganta. All we could do at that point was go back to Soul Society and report.

This threw both the new Central 46 and the Gotei 13 into a jumbled mass of anger, confusion and panic. After several days of deliberation we still hadn't figured out what to do. That was when we were notified by Urahara that we had a "person of interest" that wanted to speak to us. I was sent, along with a few others, to see what it was about.

Imagine my surprise to find a grim-faced Nel waiting for us at Urahara's, only she wasn't a child and her mask wasn't broken anymore. Gone was any hope for a happy reunion with the once-playful arrancar. She stared at us in turn before settling her gaze on me. Not once did she blink or look away. After a few minutes of tense silence she tore into us for mistrusting the most loyal and selfless being anyone had ever seen. She shoved our shame into our faces as she told us of the condition they'd found him in.

You see, Tier had assumed control over Las Noches and by extension Hueco Mundo itself. She granted asylum to all hollows, regardless of their respective power levels, that just wanted a safe place to live. Nel was one of those that wanted and needed a safe place since she had little control over her form. Reports began to come in from some of the most recent hollows, of a hollow that was monstrously powerful and killed anyone that attacked it while ignoring those that left it alone. Such behavior was abnormal to say the least so Tier and Nel went to check it out. Nel went mainly because of the possibility that she could approach it without setting it off.

That was when they found him. He'd allowed his hollow mask to form and cover his entire head. He was covered in the gore of his latest assailant and was just sitting there absorbing the dissipating energy. True to her assumption, Nel walked right up to him with Tier hanging back, ready to intercede. At first Nel was unable to get much of a reaction out of him, other than his yellow-eyed stare. With a bit of gentle prodding and more than a little puppy-eyes, courtesy of Nel, they were able to bring him back to Las Noches.

It was a few days before he spoke and that was only to ask why. Why had they brought him there? Didn't they mistrust him also? Didn't they consider him a monster as well? Nel was horrified and Tier was both saddened and insulted. Here was the one who killed the betrayer Aizen, the one who betrayed them also, and he was completely destroyed emotionally. He was quite possibly the single most powerful being any of the worlds had known, and he was but a shell of the man he once was. It took a few more days of explaining and even a bit of force to get it through to him that even though the Shinigami had proven to be distrustful and short-sighted, the hollows revered him. He was the one who set them free, who showed them the possibility of a better world with his acceptance of Nel that long time ago.

From there it was a simple matter of co-dependence, give and take if you will. Tier gave him a place to belong and in return he lent his power to protect those that chose to live in Las Noches.

It was here that Nel's demeanor changed in a rather shocking way. She began to blush furiously as she explained that he decided to show his gratitude to her by fixing her mask. A brief silence set in and she hurriedly moved past that point. Apparently whatever happened was either very personal or led to a personal moment. Honestly, I was torn between jealousy and relief that he'd not been pushed too far by his negative emotions.

Nel went on to tell us that both she and Tier ruled over Las Noches now and that he was, officially another leg of that rulership. Tier and Nel served to bring hollows into a more civilized society and he served as that indomitable strength that would crush anyone or anything that sought to harm what he had found. He became the protector once again. This time though, he was respected and revered by those who sought his protection. There was no mistrust or deceit. No ridiculous politics or power grabs. No antiquated societal structure that had been corrupted by years of negligence and over-indulgence. This time he was at the beginning of a new society, one that respected and rewarded power and mercilessly crushed any threat to their new order. Corruption was weeded out before it could take root and while not everyone got along, they did enjoy the safety this new system afforded.

All I could do was return home to deliver my findings as Nel left shortly after telling us that we weren't worthy of what he had to offer and that they had gladly accepted him with open arms.

Needless to say, both Central 46 and the Sou-taicho were furious over the loss of someone so powerful to their most hated foes. The thought of a hollow society being built by three incredibly powerful beings, one that could even match the Sou-taicho, was very frightening. Within an hour the Sou-taicho was delivering the capture or kill commands. Even though Nel had never raised her arms against Soul Society, her name sat there beside Tier's and his.

The eruption within the taicho meeting was understandable and fierce. Taichos Ukitake, Kyoraku, Unohana, Komamura, Hitsugaya and even Kuchiki were adamant in their refusal to act upon such orders. Taichos Abarai, Hirako and Muguruma were openly in favor of outright rebellion rather than simple refusal to follow orders. Taichos Sui-Feng and Zaraki were surprisingly neutral, neither voiced an opinion either way, leaving only Kurotsuchi-taicho to express a desire to attack.

With such a calamity before us, I am more interested in the behavior that Nel displayed while we spoke. Isn't there a very real possibility of this new hollow society being more favorable than a small band of very powerful and very hostile enemies? Nel had been disgusted by the way he was treated, but did say that neither she nor Tier had any desire to attack the Soul Society. As long as we left them alone, couldn't we find a way to move forward and put the past behind us? Especially with him there. I know right now he's not likely to be very friendly to us, but with time, perhaps his anger could cool and we could establish a non-hostile relationship. Surely there are some of us capable of getting through to him. If not us, maybe his old friends? Perhaps Chad could provide a healthy link to his former life. I don't think for one moment that even the Sou-taicho would dare make a move on his family. I'm not even convinced that he'd make a move on him at all. Hopefully this new Central 46 can be convinced that their orders were made in haste and were not in Soul Society's best interests.

For now, he is alive and I hope that one day I can call him my friend again. Even if he has given some of himself over to his hollow, the man described by Nel is still the one we put all our hopes on so long ago. Though his name changed a little.

This is my personal account of how our savior, my dear friend, was mistreated. And it is my hope that one day this can be but a memory that he and I can look back on and rant about the one's that failed him. This is my wish.

My name is Kuchiki Rukia and my friend is Shirosaki Ichigo, formerly Kurosaki Ichigo.

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 **AN: Wow, I'm not even sure where this one came from. Those of you with keen eyes will notice similarities to other stories, I have read a ton and will likely have been influenced by that material. I hope my version here can be accepted as it's own work, I tend to write on the fly with minor edits along the way for fact-checking purposes.  
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 **All that said, I do intend to write up a dark version of Compromise with a Demon and have a few ideas kicking around for English Lessons. Please let me know what you think.  
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 **~~Dos**


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